gender essay

The author has chosen this commercial based on the belief that she thinks men and women should be treated equal.  This commercial that the author will explain in the next paragraph is based on the theory that men and women are seen as unequal in society.  Children who are seeing this commercial may relate that their father wouldn’t know their morning routine as their mother always prepares them for school.  However children who may not relate see the stereotype that fathers’ are incapable of taking care of them properly.

            This essay is based on a commercial, from local television, which is advertising Flu Mist, the beginning of the commercial shows two children who are just getting out of bed.  They ask their father, who is in a suit, “where is mom?” The father responds that she is sick today and the children put on a big smile.  The commercial then goes into high speed, showing the children running around the house getting ready to go to school.  While the father is brushing his teeth they try on different outfits.  The father agrees that these are good clothes to wear while helping to pick out summer sneakers, he passes the children their jackets. Once the children leave the house they are shown walking by snow banks.  The father is baffled as he looks at the mess.   The commercial then goes to the mother who is in bed sick followed by the father who is walks into the kitchen to a mess then to the laundry room, where there are clothes everywhere and he picks the clothes up and throws them back down, in both of these situations the father has a baffled look on his face like he doesn’t know how to clean.  The announcer on the commercial then says: “Who would replace you if you were sick?”

            The stereotype in this commercial has portrayed men as being incompetent in raising their own children and completing daily household tasks, this says that without women men would not be competent to complete these skills.  The commercial says that only women are capable of completing these tasks daily.

            The author believes that the commercial is based on the gender schema theory.  A schema that is originally developed by Piaget in the plural sense of schemata.  A Schemata is a network of association that organizes and guides understandings.  People who use what they already know to categorize another person is called a gender schema theory.   Children take the knowledge that they have already learned about gender to develop stereotypes, which can guide them in making the wrong understanding of how males and females should act in a society.  (Galliano, 2003) In the above commercial the children had learned that their father did not know how to handle a morning routine and therefore had taken advantage of their mother being sick.  Parents can prevent children from learning gender stereotypes by avoiding situations like this commercial where the father cannot properly take care of his children without the mother’s assistance.  If the father is more involved in the family routine this would be avoiding a gender stereotype that fathers’ do not take part in the family routine.

            Many journals have supported the theory that men are portrayed as incompetent in household chores and childcare responsibilities.  Many journals say that women that do not have paid jobs often do much more domestic work then do their husbands that do have paid jobs.  Males that do domestic chores usually do chores that are seen as masculine such as fixing a car. Studies that were completed on women that have paid employment and how much domestic responsibilities they do compared to the domestic responsibilities that their husbands do while working were almost equal.  Families who had both parents working, studies showed that fathers actually completed equal or more household responsibilities then the wives. (Carlson, 1984)

Studies that have been done pay attention to what men do not do and how much women do.  Few studies show what men do and women do not.  Men do more outdoor chores then women do such as fixing a car or yard work.  These chores are considered a man’s job yet it is rarely studied why a woman does not complete these chores.  Most studies that the author looked at studies why men do not do what is to be considered women jobs such as house cleaning and childcare.  Studies do show that men enjoy what are considered men’s work where as women dislike most chores that are considered women’s work. (Kroska, 2003)

            In families where a father is domesticated boys are not affected by gender stereotypes, compared to a boy whose father was the primary moneymaker would learn stereotypes.  Girls whose mother has paid employment does not develop gender stereotypes as a girl

whose mother was a housewife.  (Carlson, 1984)  From a very young age society puts pressure on how children are supposed to act as girls and boys, from this children learn

stereotypes.  Studies that were done have shown that girls approximately 2 years old learn gender stereotypes approximately a year before young boys do.  When boys learn stereotypes they do not have as much knowledge as the young girls about gender stereotyping such as a boy putting make-up on a male doll. This could be due to girls witnessing parents completing activities that are gender related more then boys do. (Poulin-Dubois, Servin, Eichstedt, Sen & Beissel)  Studies have also shown that what type of gender stereotype a child will learn depends on the parents schooling and the location of where they live. (Tenebaum & Leaper, 2002)

            A Mother who is home with their child most of the time will teach the child the most.  Studies show that father’s are more concerned with stereotypes that children learn however the child usually follows the stereotypes that their mother portrays. (Tenebaum et. al) In the commercial children knew what their mother expected from them during the morning routine and knew that because it was their father that was completing the morning routine, which was unusual, they could get away with not completing their responsibilities.

            Society portrays men and women as having two separate skill levels.  We see this in movies, television shows, commercials and magazines.  The author believes that commercial’s like the one the author has discussed shows the audience that society as a whole still believe that women are superior in the domestic household responsibilities and men are superior in the work force and bringing home a pay cheque, this is close minded thinking.  Advertisements at times will put women down and praise men or like this commercial it will do the opposite, it will praise women and put men down.  Society should be moving towards showing men and women as equals as that is what men and woman have been and obviously still are fighting for.  The media world still show men, women and children that we have not evolved to be capable of seeing each other as equals so how is society as a whole supposed to develop an open mind.